A few days ago, a friend recommended a video of Bishop Erik Varden, a Cistercian monk bishop, speaking about ‘Healing Wounds’ to the St. Paul’s Cathedral Community via YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RamOqLP5l5w). The video is an exploration of some of his ideas in his new book for Lent 2025 called ‘Healing Wounds’ which I suspect could be a wonderful companion for some of us in the coming Lenten season. Several things struck me as interesting in his talk, but I was especially drawn to some of the things that Bishop Erik mentioned about contemplation and contemplatives. Namely, that ‘the prerequisite for anyone aspiring to become a contemplative is to decide to live with eyes open and to see things as they really are, to confront the world as it is, myself as it is, God as he is, not in terms of my own projection, but in terms of putting myself squarely before the otherness of the other, and to have patience to see what is before me in all its aspects.’ Wow, what a challenge, to really see what is before each one of us in all aspects, in the particularity of our own lives, but also in the local, the national, the global.
Despite the challenge, I think that this insight is vitally important as we begin as a community to reflect on the theme of hope in the coming weeks of Lent. It seems to me that, whatever hope is about, it must start from a place of openness to seeing life as it really is. Seeing, for instance, our own brokenness, our vulnerabilities, our sinfulness, and remaining present to them. Bearing witnesses too to the travails of some human beings caught up in lives of greed, violence, and the quest for power – the list is endless! Of course, as we see, there is a risk of overwhelm, and even despair. These are natural responses to the immense ‘muchness’ of life, and we must give such feelings their place.
However, they cannot be the last word on the matter because there is more to us as human beings than fear, overwhelm and collapse. As the wonderful Quaker writer Parker Palmer has powerfully reminded his readers recently on his Facebook page, there are other powerful forces at work within us, animating and energising us, one of them we call hope. As he writes hope is a: ‘life-force deep in the root system of nature itself, including human nature. It’s a power that precedes thinking or believing, that keeps us putting one foot in front of the other when we can’t see where we’re going or even believe there’s someplace to go. Hope is an instinctive “NO!” to everything that threatens life, and “YES!” to everything that sustains life, even when our minds are saying, “All is lost.” The mind can be cowardly and shrink from challenges—but nature is courageous and relentless in its drive toward life, more life.’
There is so much that we could reflect on in this quote, but I am drawn to a particular phrase at this time: ‘Hope is a ‘Yes! to everything that sustains life.’ This does not sound like some passive waiting for things to change but an active engagement with the things of life to sustain, to nourish, to transform. Maybe, we are being called then, as suggested by the theologian Thomas Jay Oord in a recent talk, to imagine hope as a verb that calls all of us to join with a God who empowers and inspires us for the good work God wants us to do. An invitation to be agents, doers, heralds of a ‘yes’ that will not be diminished, and which has the power to usher in, step by step, the coming of the Kingdom of God.
So, my sisters and brothers, what might it mean for each one of us to open our eyes to this understanding hope in the coming days? What will our ‘yes to life’ look like for us individually, as members of this community, as the body of Christ? For some, it will mean giving time to learning to see, to contemplation; for others it might crafting a language of hope in our homes, with our friends, in the local community; and yet for others, it might be about social, and political action. As Ash Wednesday approaches, I pray each one of us will begin to knock on the holy door of hope and see how we might be surprised what is asked of us, what we are to become!?
Mark Kenny
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